Joint 50/50 parenting plan · $54 $37

Start your 50/50 plan from a full draft, not a blank page.

A complete equal-time parenting plan, with the reasoning behind every provision, so you can bring your attorney a structure to edit instead of a story to start from.

PDF + editable DOCX · Beyond 18 Addendum included

Bought separately, with Beyond 18: $54  ·  Together: $37  ·  You save $17

There's a line in your draft decree that says “$0, equal time,” and you can't tell if it's correct or the thing you'll regret in eighteen months when someone runs the actual calculation.

The decree-drafting season is the part most parents underestimate. Temporary orders are loud: hearings, deadlines. The decree is quiet, drafted over email, signed at a kitchen table, and then it governs the next decade of your family's life. This template is for the parent who wants to walk in with something instead of nothing.

What “Joint 50/50” means, in plain language.

Both parents share joint legal custody, meaning both participate in major decisions about education, medical care, and welfare. Physical custody is shared close to equally.

“Close to equally” is doing real work in that sentence. Equal-time schedules vary widely, week-on/week-off, 2-2-3, 5-2-2-5, alternating blocks, and the overnight counts don't have to land on exactly half to be treated as an equal-time arrangement. What this framework addresses is the structure: two full households, symmetric authority, and a schedule both parents read the same way. The specific calendar is yours and your attorney's to set.

Which structure describes your case is a legal question, and not one I can answer. I'm not an attorney. This describes what the framework covers so you can recognize whether it's in the neighborhood, then confirm it with counsel.

The $0 assumption that costs people later

“Equal time means $0 child support” is the most common assumption parents bring to 50/50, and it isn't a safe one. In a number of states, guideline formulas weigh the income difference between parents alongside the time split, which can produce a non-zero number even at exactly equal overnights. Whether your state works that way, and what it produces for your figures, is for your attorney to run. That's why the support section ships with both options drafted side by side, zero support with the worksheet and net support under your state's guidelines. Your attorney runs the math, picks the one that fits, deletes the other.

What's inside

Court-format, structured for your attorney's review:

• A sixty-day pattern-of-change provision to raise with your attorney: what happens when the real schedule drifts from the written one for two months. Whether anything like it is enforceable in your state is your attorney’s call.
• Symmetric tie-breakers, drafted for equal authority rather than residence-driven authority: major decisions route provider, then Parenting Coordinator, then Court, with no after-the-fact override.
• Plus curbside exchange protocol, complete shared-expense framework, tax allocation (Form 8332), health insurance, travel notice, driver's ed, and document production, at the same level of detail throughout.
• A fee-shifting provision for concealed finances, with notes on why it is there, to ask your attorney about.
• A 48-hour response rule for properly formatted requests, so you can propose a way to stop waiting on unanswered ones.
• A tiered dispute-resolution sequence, five steps before court (notice, cure, Parenting Coordinator, mediation, court), drafted to make court the last resort.
• An expanded right-of-first-refusal provision, with a stated trigger threshold, an advance notice deadline, a response window, a default when nobody answers, and a list of what does not count, including school, regular daycare, activities, and time with relatives while the scheduled parent remains available.
• Attorney Notes, the drafting reasoning behind each provision, so you walk in saying “here's what I built and why” instead of starting from zero.
• Twenty-one hard-won lessons, drawn from observation and what other parents describe. They describe what tends to happen, not legal rules for your case.

Included free, the Beyond 18 Addendum. Most parenting plans end at the child's 18th birthday. Most disputes don't. A companion on the post-majority issues most decrees are silent on: FAFSA filing including the 2024 Simplification Act change, college and trade-school cost-sharing, ACA coverage to 26, tax dependency past 18, disabled-adult-child support with SSI and Medicaid coordination, and adult-child autonomy. Template-agnostic, works alongside any parenting plan, with attorney review.

Which one fits

• Joint 50/50: overnights within a few per year of each other.
• Sole Custody: one parent has the clear majority of overnights, with joint legal custody preserved.
• Split Custody: two or more children, with at least one living primarily with each parent.
• Not sure where you land? The free guide Which Parenting Plan Fits walks through it, and your attorney can confirm which structure fits your case. Bought the wrong one? Email within 14 days and we'll exchange it at no cost.

This may fit your situation if

• You're at the decree-drafting stage and want a written framework to bring to your attorney
• You'd rather walk in knowing what you're asking for than start from a blank page
• You want the drafting reasoning, not just the language

What this is not: Legal advice. A finished or court-ready document. A child-support calculation for your case. A guarantee any provision is enforceable in your state. A substitute for an attorney licensed in your state. A guarantee of any outcome.

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